adminSome of the lawmakers protested after they were subjected to routine body searches.
They felt the searching was denigrating them.
The lawmakers who are members of the Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy are on their maiden familiarisation visit.
They were also riled by management at Diamond Mining Company, another diamond firm, which appeared unprepared to receive the lawmakers as their plant was temporarily down due to a mechanical fault.
Warren Park MP Mr Elias Mudzuri (MDC-T), told chief security officer for Mbada Diamond Mining Company, Mr Jabulani Mukoko, who was doubling up as acting mining manager, that it was not prudent to subject them to body searches.
He said they were senior members of another arm of Government, the legislature.
The protest by Mr Mudzuri came after legislators had completed their tour at the firm and were searched physically as well as by screening on a machine.
Mr Mukoko told Mr Mudzuri that even Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was subjected to the same treatment when he toured the area because it is a procedural requirement.
“Did he accept that?” asked Mr Mudzuri to which Mr Mukoko confirmed that the Premier had no problem with the search.
“If members of the executive, who are custodians of these resources subject themselves to this harassment then it is unfortunate. Where is the respect? I have
travelled in many countries, there is no such thing. I want to register my protest to this,” fumed Mr Mudzuri.
He argued that since the firm had their security monitoring the legislators, coupled with a closed circuit television, it was not prudent to subject them to body searches.
Chiredzi West MP, Mr Moses Mare (MDC-T) also complained that the searches were excessive.
“We have not seen the diamonds, all what we have been subjected to are body searches,” said Mr Mare.
Earlier, the committee chaired by Guruve South MP, Cde Edward Chindori-Chininga (Zanu-PF) had a heated exchange with management after they felt that the senior personnel were deliberately withholding information from them.
The legislators had asked questions such as how many carats do their firms produce per month, the composition of Mbada Diamond board of directors and the absence of the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation in exploration work.
In his response, Mr Mukoko told legislators that information on caratage will be easily available either at their head office, ZMDC or the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development.
On names of board members, Mr Mukoko said the information was equally available at head office or from ZMDC since he did not have it off hand except the name of the chairperson, Dr Robert Mhlanga.
The response did not go down well with legislators who took turns to castigate him. After a protracted argument, Cde Chindori-Chininga told management that his committee was not on a witch-hunt but was merely performing its oversight role.
“We are not here to criminalise anybody. When we ask questions we are trying to verify with the information that we have. When we come here we are not coming empty handed, we already have some information and we want to verify,” he said.
Chivi South MP, Cde Irvine Dzingirayi (Zanu-PF) weighed in: “We are not fighting you. There are figures we got elsewhere. There can be an impression that there is a lot of money being generated from diamonds when it is not true.”
Glen View North MP Mr Fani Munengami (MDC-T), asked why the plant had stopped operating when the legislators were about to conduct their tour.
Mr Mukoko said there was a technical fault that had occurred but the stoppage was merely temporary as it could be rectified in a short time.
At DMC, the committee said they were riled by the lack of preparedness of management at the mine to receive them.
This was after they were told that the plant had temporarily stopped to address a technical hitch.
Management at DMC also told the committee that they had heard of their impending visit the previous day.
The committee is expected to meet other mining firms, conduct a public hearing with villagers and visit relocated villagers at Arda Transau.
Online Reporter